The 95th annual Collett-McKay picnic brought 198 members of the two families and friends together at the association grounds on the Gurneyville Rd. on Saturday. While most were from Clinton, Greene and Warren Counties, numerous towns and cities throughout the state were represented and a few from out of the state. These were the David Cossums of Silver Spring, Md., the Sell family of Lexington, Ky., Susanna and Larry Terrell of Haverford, Pa., who are visiting their grandmother, Mrs. E. E. Terrell.

Since buying the picnic ground, which originally was a part of Military Survey 2280 bought by pioneer Moses McKay in 1810, the association in 1936 erected a memorial gateway with bronze tablets on which is a brief history of the two families.

The Collett and McKay families were united by four marriages between 1823 and 1830. The first Collett was a French Hugenot, who, with his wife and family, sailed from France for America. During the voyage a son, Stephen, was born. The mother died at sea but the child lived. According to family history the vessel was shipwrecked and the crew, including the infant boy, lived on half a biscuit a day until they were rescued and reached America.

Stephen Collett married Elizabeth Wyle and lived near Baltimore, Md. Their grandson, Daniel Collett, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He and his wife, Mary Haines, who came from Jefferson County, Va., now West Virginia, came to Clinton County in 1812 and settled near Jonah's Run Church.

The ancestor of the McKay family in this section was Robert, who came from Scotland. He lived in Chester County, Pa., as early as 1726. This section of Chester County is now in Cecil County, Md., having been made after the Mason and Dixon line was established.

In 1731 Robert was a member of the Joist Hite Expedition which consisted of 16 families who received a grant from King George 2 for 100,000 acres of land in Virginia. A marker near Cedarville, Warren County, Va., points out the old house built of walnut logs which was the home of Robert McKay.

The great-grandson of the first Robert was Moses McKay, who, with his wife Abigail Shinn, and family, came from Frederick County, Va., to Warren County, Ohio in 1818.

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